


This Provincial Life

by faithinthepoor



Series: Once Upon a Time [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-01
Updated: 2013-01-01
Packaged: 2017-11-23 05:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/618775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/faithinthepoor/pseuds/faithinthepoor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows the events of the episode Skin Deep</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Provincial Life

**Author's Note:**

> In my series this follows my [Fairytale Drabbles](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618763) and [Mirror Mirror](http://archiveofourown.org/works/618771)

When the door opens she doesn’t wait for an invitation, she simply enters. It may not be polite but it’s certainly effective. It’s also wise as this is a circumstance where an invitation is unlikely to be forthcoming. 

She walks down the hallway and hears the door close behind them as Regina says, “Welcome Sheriff. Please do come in.”

“Thank you. Do you mind if I make myself at home?”

“Why in the world would that be a problem?” 

“I can’t think of a single reason.” Emma replies as she settles herself on Regina’s couch.

Regina stands in the entrance to room glaring at her. Despite that expression Emma feels that Regina is actually impressed by the way she’s approached the situation. You may catch more flies with honey than with vinegar but not all flies are built the same. Flowery words and social graces are not the way to Regina’s heart. To be honest Emma’s not sure she knows how to get to Regina’s heart but she does know that the way to Regina’s living room is by not even considering that no could be an answer.

“Am I meant to offer you a drink? Perhaps ask about your day?”

Emma’s actually has no idea what they should do. She put all of her thought into getting past Regina and into the house. Now that she’s here she realises that her plan was a little short sighted. She has no choice but to cut to the chase, “Did you get what you wanted from Mr Gold?”

“I guess I did,” Regina says but she doesn’t look happy.

“Was it not all that you hoped it would be?”

“They do say to be careful what you wish for,” is Regina’s cryptic reply.

“And I take it that you weren’t?”

“Careful you mean? No probably not. In fact I seem to have been careless about a lot things of late,” she gives Emma a pointed look.

“You do know how to make a girl feel good about herself.”

“If it’s external validation you need you are looking in the wrong place.” Regina is leaning against the door frame with her arms folded across her chest and her legs crossed at her ankles and her pose underlines her words. 

“I know better than to come to you for that.” 

“So why did you come?”

“I wish I had an answer to that.”

“So this is not a misguided attempt at some sort of belated Valentine’s Day rendezvous then?”

“I’m not an idiot. You would have bitten my head off if I try to show up here with a heart shaped box of candy.”

Regina smiles and her stance softens, “If this isn’t some nauseating attempt to pander to a pointless holiday then I will just have to assume that you are finding it hard to stay away from me.”

“Something like that.”

“I miss you too.” Regina closes her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here. It makes things more difficult.”

“Are you telling me to leave?”

“I’m telling you that spending time together is a bad idea.”

Emma takes the fact that Regina didn’t order her to leave as a sign that she’s allowed to stay. “Is that why you barely bothered to make eye contact with me when you came to the station?”

“That visit wasn’t about you.”

It doesn’t escape Emma’s attention that Regina has sidestepped the actual question. “But whatever it was about was important enough for you to let me spend time with Henry.”

“The Henry situation is complicated. I don’t know how to navigate it. I’m worried that if I don’t let him see you it will just make his desire to spend time with you even stronger.”

“You make it sound like we are in a custody battle.”

Regina pales, “I don’t ever want things to come to that.”

“Then maybe you should try letting me spend time with Henry when it’s not obvious that it’s because you have some other agenda.”

“Do you think it would have been better to let Gold believe that you’d leave me alone with a prisoner simply because I asked?”

“I would have thought that no one would blink an eye if the sheriff of this town was under your thumb. In fact I think that the sheriff being your bitch would come across as business as usual. It’s pretty much in the job description.” She’s surprised how easily she can talk about this given it’s a topic fraught with pitfalls and landmines. She still has doubts about the way Graham died. In her nightmares he doesn’t collapse, he dies in a lake of blood after Regina stabs him in the chest. Emma knows they are just dreams but sometimes they feel so real.

“Well this particular sheriff has been rather vocal in her opposition of me so mindless following of my orders would seem rather suspicious.”

“True. But I don’t like you using our son as a pawn.” Emma hadn’t meant to refer to Henry in that way, even if it is true, and she braces herself for Regina’s response.

“It’s better than Mr Gold thinking that you would break with protocol simply because I asked.”

The fact that Regina lets the description of their relationship to Henry slide is something that Emma finds puzzling. It seems the mayor’s preoccupation with Gold far outweighs Emma’s transgression, “You talk about him like he is a force to be feared.” 

“I told you that he’s not someone you want as an enemy.”

“He runs a pawn shop. He’s not a mob boss.”

“Believe me things would be much easier if he were the head of the mafia.”

“We both know that’s not true. For starters I, like most people, am much more comfortable with owing a favour to a shopkeeper than to a mob boss.”

“What did you say?” Regina hisses. Emma has never seen Regina look this angry and it’s more frightening than she wants to admit.

“I made what I thought was a reasonable observation about not wanting to owe the mafia a favour.”

“Have you promised a favour to Mr Gold?” Regina looks close to desperate.

“He seems to believe that I have.”

“Oh Emma,” Regina rushes across the room to sit beside her, “what have you done?”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Sadly it is. It’s a huge deal.” Regina takes Emma’s hand. “I should have found a way to make you leave. It was selfish of me to want you to stay.”

“Wait. You’re behaviour up until now has been about you wanting me to remain in town?”

“To an extent.”

“You have a strange way of showing it.”

“Are you or are you not still here?”

“Yes but I would say that I’m here in spite of you rather than because of you.”

“If that’s what you need to tell yourself,” Regina says with a predatory smile.

“Oh my god you are so colossally self-centred. You can’t think that is all because of you. You make me want to punch you in the face sometimes.”

“I didn’t say it was all about me.”

“Just that you were a large part of the reason,” despite her anger she feels the side of mouth tug into a smirk.

“I am almost certain that I was a factor in you remaining in Storybrooke.” Regina may have used a modifier but she delivers the statement with complete confidence.

“You were,” she reluctantly admits. “You still are.” 

“I know and I’m so sorry.”

“Hey,” she pulls her hand away from Regina’s, “ultimately it’s my decision to stay.”

“I know that too.”

“Do you?”

Regina laughs, “Yes I do.”

“Because sometimes you make me wonder. 

“What exactly do you wonder?”

“Just how powerful you think you are.”

“I’m not omnipotent,” Regina scowls.

“That’s good to know.”

“It’s not from lack of trying.”

The look on Regina’s face is serious but Emma can’t stop herself from laughing. “You make it sound like you think it’s possible.”

“How do you know it’s not?”

“You’re not the first to try and fail,” Emma says with a small grin.

“That doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Maybe they just didn’t try hard enough.” Regina smiles back.

“So you think you can achieve where others have failed?” This is possibly the strangest conversation that she has ever been involved in but the thing that makes it truly surreal is that she can’t shake the feeling that Regina isn’t really joking.

“I won’t know unless I try.”

“Spoken like a true over achiever.”

“It’s important to have standards. I like to be good at things.” Regina shoots her a look that Emma is concerned may have the ability to make all of her clothes fall off.

“And there are times that I definitely appreciate your desire to excel but you don’t have to be the best at everything.”

“I’m not.” Regina says simply.

“That’s not a flaw.”

“That really depends on what I’m not best at.” Regina’s face is unreadable.

“Is this about Henry?” Emma asks and wishes she hadn’t.

“No,” Regina says with surprisingly little ire. “I’m a good mother. Henry may not see that but he is just a child.”

Part of Emma wants to protest, she wants to tell Regina that Henry needs more than rules and a roof over his head, but she already feels that she has dodged a bullet. It’s her second bullet for the night when it comes to Henry and if she keeps this up sooner or later Regina is going to start shooting straight. “So what is it that you worry you’re not good at?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t good,” Regina looks disappointed in her, “just that I’m not the best.”

“There will always be someone out there who’s better than you at things. It’s a big world.”

“The person I’m worried about is more local.”

“Is it me?” Emma ducks her head as she asks the question.

“You are a definite problem Sheriff Swan and you worry me on so many levels,” Regina softens her words by catching Emma’s chin and placing a kiss on her lips, “but I wasn’t actually referring to you.”

“Is this still about Mr Gold?” Emma is incredulous.

“That man is dangerous,” Regina’s words have a sense of finality.

“For fuck’s sake it’s not like he’s a serial killer.”

“And how would you know that?” There is a coldness to Regina’s eyes that makes Emma uncomfortable.

“Well if he is he’s hiding it well. This is a small town. People going missing would not go unnoticed.”

“This is not an ordinary town.”

Emma’s first thought is that what’s unusual about this town is that it is completely controlled by its Mayor. It’s not outside the realms of possibility that someone could kill here with impunity if they had Regina’s approval. She shuts down that line of thought as quickly as it comes. That road leads to Graham and impossible questions and she can not go there. 

“I’m sure I can handle it here,” she says. She hopes she sounds more believable than she feels. This town is making her crazy. She is one step away from believing Henry and his insane ideas about a world of trapped fairytale characters. After all there is something regal about Regina’s bearing. It’s not such a large leap to imagine her as a queen. It’s also not that hard to imagine her being a malevolent ruler - she essentially already plays that role.

“That confidence may just be the end of you,” Regina says softly and strokes Emma’s cheek.

“I promise to be careful.”

“I fear that it’s already too late for that.”

“All because of me owing a favour?”

“All because of who you owe it to.”

“He’s really not that bad.”

“He’s worse than me,” Regina delivers that fact like it is conclusive proof of Mr Gold’s evilness.

“You are not as bad as you think you are.”

“You have no idea who I am or what I’ve done.”

“I know that I couldn’t see good in you if there wasn’t any there.”

“Emma you could see good in anyone if you tried.”

“Which means that you know as little about me as I know about you. I have no doubt that evil exists. Some people are rotten to the core. I just don’t think you are one of those people.”

“What if you are wrong?” Regina’s gaze is level.

“I’m not.” She can’t be. She couldn’t feel they way she does about Regina if there was nothing good in her.

“I see,” is all Regina says.

Emma takes Regina’s hand, “You know this is not what I had in mind when I came over.”

“No? What was it that you had in mind?” Regina arches an eyebrow.

“I wasn’t expecting a talk about feelings. I thought we could have some hot, nasty, angry sex.”

“I thought sex of all types was out of the question at the moment.”

“I can’t imagine what gave you that idea,” Emma says with a coy smile.

“Oh just that someone decided to put some rules and regulations on the nature of our interactions.”

“I doubt that rules and regulations ever stop you from getting what you want.”

“That’s a reasonable assessment.”

“So does that mean you won’t be obeying these particular rules either?”

“Well I guess that depends,” Regina says with a blatant stare at Emma’s chest.

“On what?”

“How can I put this?” Regina leans in towards Emma. Emma can feel Regina’s breath on her lips but then Regina pulls back and says, “On whether or not I think they are worth breaking.” 

“That would seem to put me in an awkward situation.”

“Do you feel uncomfortable talking about your prowess?”

“Not in general but in this case I would have hoped that my work would speak for itself.”

“Is that so? What if I’ve not been happy with your work to date?”

“Well then I guess I am screwed.”

“Or possibly not screwed,” Regina’s grin in wicked.

“Are you going to make me beg for sex?” Emma is embarrassed to note that she is pouting.

“Don’t beg dear. It’s not at all becoming.”

“Then I have no choice but to be direct. Is sex is out of the question?”

“For tonight it is.”

“Where does that leave us?”

“You can go if that’s what you want.”

“And if I want to stay?”

“I won’t kick you out but I can’t promise to be good company.”

Emma suppresses a smile. It amuses her that Regina would think that she is ever good company. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

“In that case you can make yourself useful and go and get us something to drink.”

When Emma returns with a bottle of wine Regina has kicked her shoes off and is curled up on the couch. Emma fills their glasses and then hands one to Regina. She removes her boots and decides to push her luck by lying down with her head in Regina’s lap.

Regina doesn’t flinch and Emma feels fingers begin to play with her hair.

“Promise me that you’ll be careful.”

Emma doesn’t want to start another debate about the evils of Mr Gold and so she says, “I promise.”

“I hope you mean that because I won’t always be able to protect you.”

“I’m a big girl. I don’t need protecting.”

“If you say so.”

“I’d dispute that but it would only lead to an argument and I don’t want to fight.”

“There’s not a lot of point when these’s no possibility of makeup sex.” Emma can’t see Regina’s face but she can hear the smile in her voice.

“Exactly.”

“So are you still going to stay for a while?”

“I feel like you’re determined to make me leave.”

“Only a little. To be honest I don’t really know what we’d do if we’re not going to have sex.”

“I plan to start by working on the bottle of wine that’s in front of us.”

“I like the plan,” Regina says as she takes a large sip, “but I am going to need more than one bottle.”

“In that case I hope you are adequately stocked.”

“I have a reasonable collection.”

“That’s handy.”

“You’ll find I’m prepared for any eventuality Sheriff.”

“Aren’t you the regular boy scout?”

“I don’t think the scouts give out badges based on the quality of one’s wine cellar.” 

“Probably not.”

“I don’t think they give them out for drinking either.” Regina downs the rest of her glass and leans over Emma to pour a new one. The actions brings Regina’s chest in contact with Emma’s face and Emma feels like she is being tested. 

“More’s the pity,” Emma says and is pleased to note that she doesn’t sound as frustrated as she feels.

“Here’s to pursuits that won’t earn us badges then.”Regina raises her glass and Emma attempts to mirror the gesture but her supine position makes that a little difficult and she spills some wine on herself. 

“I’m sorry.”

The mayor shrugs, “Not my glass and not my clothes.”

“You say that like my clothes don’t matter.”

“I say it like I doubt you have a large dry cleaning bill.”

“The cost of our clothes doesn’t make you better than me.”

“Perhaps not but it does mean I don’t look like a vagrant.”

“I’m surprised you spend any time at all with me if that’s the way you feel.”

“Me too,” Regina takes Emma’s hand and lifts it lips in order to place a kiss on it, “but I find I want to keep you. I know that’s not fair. It’s not much to offer – this town, this life.” 

Emma is aware that Regina hasn’t actually placed herself on that list but Emma finds she’s okay with that for now. “I’m willing take my chances here.”

When Regina lowers their hands she doesn’t let go and neither does Emma. It’s not the night she had in mind and she has some serious needs that have gone unmet but she has the feeling that this is much more significant. She can’t speak for Regina but for Emma this changes things. She can’t pretend that this is just about animal attraction and sexual chemistry any more. This has become something more, something real, and she has no idea how to feel about it.


End file.
